Avakas Gorge Trail

Avakas Gorge is a limestone ravine cut by the Avgas river through the southern edge of the Akamas Peninsula, and it is one of the most striking short walks in Cyprus. The route follows the riverbed inland, and as you go the walls close in until they stand tens of metres high and only a few metres apart, with boulders wedged overhead where they have fallen and jammed between the sides. The floor is loose rock and gravel rather than a made path, and in places you scramble.

The gorge sits inside a protected area and the vegetation reflects it, with rare and endemic plants growing on ledges out of reach of grazing. Wild goats are a common sight on the slopes above, and the shade deep inside the narrows makes it noticeably cooler than the open coast a short drive away. Most people walk in as far as the narrowest section and return the same way, which is what the timings below assume.